MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
I was told that commissary prices went up here in Oregon, but wages
for prison jobs have mostly remained the same. At least the
administration in Oregon pays prisoners for labor, because back home we
don’t get paid shit, as is the case for most southern prisons. I’m
curious to see how inflation is effecting other prisons in the United
$tates. Is there anything that we (prisoners) can do about inflation? Do
we just sit back and let it slide?
On another tip, I’m actually gettin’ ready to file an Americans with
Disabilities Act class-action to try and get disabled prisoners, like
me, disability checks in prison, because non-disabled prisoners get paid
for working, but disabled prisoners, who can’t work, aren’t able to
participate in such monetary programs and services. A $50 disability
check, per month, would work. Fifty bucks is probably the average amount
of money that non-disabled prisoners earn per month in Oregon.
Let Under Lock & Key know how inflation has affected
prices in your prison. And what is being done about it by prisoners or
the administration? [We’ll be covering this issue in more depth in
ULK 81 if we can gather more info from you.]
The FEDs gave me 20 years in prison
For being a high ranked GD
And other alleged GDs committed crimes
But that didn’t have nothing to do with me.
They say when others commit crimes
Allegedly under your chain of command
This is what they do.
But I just have one question to ask, shouldn’t
This apply to those running the system too!?
Because Derek Chauvin kneeled on
George Floyd’s neck for 9 min and 29 seconds
A blatant murder for the whole world to see.
So why isn’t his superior officers
Locked in a KKKage doing time right next to me?
OH!
Because they took no part in it?
Well let the records show neither did i
Court document 3580-107
Clearly states “Remaining GD” is my only crime.
But if that’s not enough
i have some more hypocrisy to show you
that i’m sure will blow your mind.
Where are the superiors of the officers
Who savagely murdered Amadou Diallo?
What about brother Michael Brown?
Are the superiors of those who murdered sister Breonna Taylor
Ever going to be held accountable for how that lynching went down?
Who is going to be held accountable for Oscar Grant
And let us not forget Ramarley Graham.
And WE can’t even get criminal justice reform passed
Proving once again that this system is a sham!
How many of you remember Michael Taylor in Naptown?
Handcuffed behind his back and shot in the back of his head?
And what about Major Davis beaten in his front yard and left for
dead!
The hypocrisy of this system disgusts me!!
Ain’t no such thing as Equal Justice Under the Law.
Or else Donald Trump would’ve been charged with RICO Conspiracy
For all those under his chain of command that committed fraud..
My Big brother Christopher Calhoun
Was shot over 30 times at the West End Mall in Atlanta
My baby brother Grant King was murdered in Indianapolis the same.
My little sister Khalalah was stabbed multiple times in the neck and
survived
And all this was done by UNIFORMED POLICE!
My first cousin Kevin Hicks
Was shot in the eye
This was done at point blank range.
My “FAMILY” has been the target of political repression
Body cams, ain’t stopped a damn thang!
But you want to give me 20 years
Just for remaining in a so-called gang.
Nah the real reason you gave me all that time
Was because I was organizing these so-called gangs
To bang for change.
You saw me organizing voters registration drives
You saw me marching down Bankhead in Atlanta
Chanting “I can’t Breath”.
You got scared because you seen Stones, Lords, Crips and Bloods
Marching right along-side of GDs.
And don’t try to lie because I seen the video and pictures on my
discovery!
You saw us standing together protesting police brutality.
You saw us at Stone Mountain in 2016
Standing against the Klu Klux Klan
You saw all OUR flags tied together
Black fist in the air screaming
“Free the Land”,
Yeah, you can jail the revolutionary
But you can never silence me.
You ain’t nothing but a bunch of hypocrites
And I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees.
Crime is a child of poverty and miseducation, which are both created
and perpetuated by Plutocrat Policy(s).
The real criminals are too rich and too big for jail, while the poor
are incarcerated for simply living a survivalist existence, for
responding and/or reacting to poverty and miseducation in reactionary,
economically desperate and miseducated ways.
Prison is mainly based on inflicting punishment and resentment,
rather than cultivating genuine healing via essential self-criticism
that has historically proven to decrease recidivism. Prisoners’ growth
will defeat the purpose of spending or investing 20-plus million dollars
building each prison. Genuine rehabilitation is a bad investment to the
Plutocrats.
The entire so-called criminal justice system is nothing but a
replacement and extension of slavery. A job-generating industry for all
government branches and departments between the slave patrollers (street
PIGs; Plutocrat Imperialist Goons) and Overseers (D.O.C.; Department of
Cruelty) as was the case with post-Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676.
Crime, is all founded upon, and backed up by the exception clause of
the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution: “Neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime…”
Thus, to genuinely heal or rehabilitate prisoners is to end the new
slavery; meaning, leading to the shutting down of prison, and mass
lay-offs within the entire so-called criminal justice industry system,
made up of slave patrollers (street PIGs), judges, state and defense
attorneys, counselors, doctors, nurses, canteen vendors, civilian food
service and maintenance workers and county jail and prison overseers
(DOC). Millions of jobs when tallied up nationally, all off so-called
crime, the new cotton, tobacco and/or sugar.
Crime, as an industry, can only end by first and foremostly ending
poverty and miseducation. Even rape is a result of miseducation, or
psychological defects of miseducation by the system of patriarchy.
However, poverty and miseducation will not end without first and
foremostly ending and replacing the CIPWS (Capitalist Imperialist
Patriarchist White Supremacy) with a Proletarian Internationalist
Dictatorship.
Whenever and wherever there is poverty and miseducation, material
conditions are ripe for the warrant of crime or revolution. For neither
takes place without the desire for and/or the aspiration of better days,
or a higher standard of living.
History is proof, that revolutions do not automatically occur and
succeed with the collapse of the CIPWS elite and their Plutocrat’s
superstructure. Revolution can, and will only occur and succeed when and
where the revolt which leads to revolution is culture. When and where
the masses are revolutionary conscious and active in every aspect of
human life. When and where every human embraces the power to determine
the egalitarian destiny of his and/or her own community. Revolution is
when and where power changes hands, in our case, from CIPWS to PID
(Proletarian Internationalist Dictatorship) ensuring egalitarianism
meaning All Power To The People. Revolution begins with education like
crime ends with education.
In egalitarian solidarity and struggle.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is great summary of the
connection between the system of mass incarceration in the U.$. and the
need to end imperialism. We agree that this criminal injustice system is
a replacement for slavery in relation to controlling New Afrikan
populations, and that it funds millions of jobs for Amerikans. However,
this system is very different from cotton or sugar in that no value is
being created, rather the potential value that the oppressed nations
could be producing to benefit their people is being squandered by
locking them up in unproductive conditions for years and decades.
Prisoner(s) housed at FSP (Florida State Prison) on C.M.-I & II
(Close Management) status are being used by FDOC/FSP and JPay as means
of robbing our family(s) and friend(s), thus inflicting punishment
beyond court ordered separation from society as sole and significant
punishment for crime.
In 2021, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) installed new
private contracted prison mail system services mandating that all
routine mail to prisoner(s) be addressed to Tampa, Florida office to be
processed, i.e., scanned for verbal contraband and forwarded via JPay
email system service to mail room of intended institution, to then be
printed out and delivered to intended prisoner(s). However, such service
is not being consistently and timely provided, except only when and
where convenient to and for FSP administration, STG (Security Threat
Group) personnel and mail room, all in punishment for prisoner(s) being
on C.M. status.
Inconsistency and untimeliness in mail delivery to prisoner(s)
Prisoner(s) are not receiving all incoming routing mail and email in
timely and consistent manner. Mail is being intentionally delayed,
withheld for weeks, in some cases, months after the post mark,
constituting violation of mail rule. CH. 33-210.101(6) F.A.C, which
clearly states, “Incoming and outgoing routine mail shall be processed
within 72 hours, except for inmates in certain housing assignments
identified in paragraph (7) below, which pertinently states:”(7)
inmates, that as of a result of housing designation or status are not
permitted to access kiosk, kiosk services, or tablet services as
provided for in Rule. 33-601.900 F.A.C, will have their scanned mail
printed and delivered at no cost to the inmate.”
Lack of notification
Prisoner(s) incoming routine mail is being sent back, withheld or
thrown away by Tampa private mail contractor office, without issuing
notice of any kind to prisoner(s) or sender(s).
Effect on prisoner(s)/loved-one(s) relationship structure and
rehabilitation process
Incoming mail being received by FSP mail room via JPay mail system
service is not being consistently and/or timely printed out and
delivered to intended prisoner(s).
Prisoner(s) have no way of knowing that mail had been sent to them
until informed by sender(s), either through argument or worrisome
inquiry as to why prisoner(s) are not responding to mail, causing
sender(s) to feel ignored.
Prisoner(s) are kept unaware of undelivered, deprived mail, while
sender(s) are unaware of fact that prisoner(s) are not responding, not
because they don’t want to, but because prisoner(s) are not receiving
all mail being sent to them, because;
FSP mail room, and administration are literally and intentionally
playing games (not printing and delivering all prisoner(s) incoming
mail) resulting in relationship structure conflicts, leading to
prisoner(s)/loved-one(s) alienation and isolation.
Objective investigation, review of kiosk of kiosk inbox
Objective review of each FSP, C.M.-I & II status prisoners’ Jpay
kiosk account inbox will clearly confirm the truth in this matter, by
revealing the scores of undelivered emails and photos, sent to
prisoner(s), but never printed out and delivered, as is prescribed by
Rule. 33-210.101 (7) F.A.C
Prisoner(s) or their family(s) and friend(s), due to being ignorant
of this denied service (robbery) are not realizing that prisoner(s) are
being held semi-incommunicado, as punishment for being on administrative
segregation (C.M.) status, which is not D.C. (Disciplinary Confinement)
status, in fact prisoner(s) on D.C. status, are allowed more privileges
than C.M., i.e., non-D.C. status prisoner(s), and this is all
intentional.
Conflict in FDOC/FSP Jpay Kios/Tablet Policy
Rule. CH. 33-602.900 (4)(C)3 F.A.C and CH.33-602.900(5)(d)3 F.A.C,
which governs Jpay kiosk and tablet clearly states that: “Prisoners on
C.M. status are allowed access to JPay kiosk, kiosk services, tablet and
tablet services,” stands in polar contrast with CH.33-601.800(11)(b)7
F.A.C and CH.33-601.800(11)8.(c)5. F.A.C, which governs C.M., clearly
states the opposite, that “C.M.-I & II status” prisoners
(respectively) are not allowed access to kiosk, kiosk services, tablet
and/or tablet services.” (to keep prisoners from becoming aware of the
scores of emails, letters, and photos listed in their (prisoner(s)
inbox, but are not being printed out and delivered to them) while;
C.M.-III status prisoners are allowed access to JPay kiosk, kiosk
services, tablets and tablet services, constituting not only
administrative disparity in treatment and discrimination against C.M.-I
& II status prisoners, but FSP administrative use of JPay email
system services as a means of or device of authoritarian intimidation,
punishment and control.
Robbery: Family(s)/Friend(s) of Prisoner(s) not receiving JPay
services they are paying for.
Family(s)/friend(s) of prisoner(s) purchase digital postage stamps
for a promise that their emails to loved-ones in prison will be
delivered without hindrance, a service paid for, which is not being
delivered/received, due to their sent emails not being printed out and
delivered consistently to their prisoner-loved-ones, being punished
solely for being on C.M. status.
Hundreds of FSP (all C.M.-I & II status) prisoners are not
receiving letters and/or photos sent to them via JPay email system
service. Thus, family(s)/friend(s) of prisoner(s) are being bilked,
literally robbed for their hard earned money by JPay and FDOC via FSP
mail room, STG and administration, constituting the bilking of unknown
amounts of money once all prisoners and undelivered emails are tallied
up and combined. The results is robbery and false advertising.
Nonexistent FDOC/FSP Grievance Process
Many grievances regarding all issues mentioned above have been
repeatedly submitted at every level in the grievance process and are
being biasedly rubber stamped “DENIED” or not returning or responded to,
or plain and simple being thrown in the trash. FDOC secretary office is
very well aware of this fact, but is refusing to intervene or rectify
the situation trashing of prisoner(s) grievances. See formal grievance,
log #22-6-27139.
Remedy
That FDOC Tampa private contracted mail service provide written
notice for impounded or withheld incoming routine mail being withheld
for STG surveillance or being returned to sender(s).
That FDOC/FSP kiosk and tablet policy be rectified to
uniformity.
That FSP mail room print out and deliver all digital mail,
letters/photos entering its system, to intended prisoner(s) in timely
and consistent manner, thereby ensuring;
That all Jpay email service and routine mail service paid for by
family(s) and friend(s) of prisoner(s) be received without hindrance,
i.e., end the bilking/robbery of prisoner(s) family(s) and friend(s) via
use of prisoner(s), resulting in incalculable amounts of money being
stolen.
That all money for all undelivered emails, letters and/or photos be
reimbursed, given back to family(s) and friend(s) if prisoner(s).
Respectfully submitted
P.S. Concerns regarding this issue can be addressed to the:
Better Business Bureau, JPay Company headquarters, FDOC,
Lauren.Sanchez@fdc.myflorida.com (830)717-3605
Stop The JPay Bilking
UPDATE:
A few weeks after MIM(Prisons) received a copy of the above complaint
we received an update:
“Florida Department of Cruelty has finally rectified ch.33-601.800
(dealing with JPay kiosk and tablets on C.M.: Close Management) to be in
uniformity with ch.33-602.900 (which deals with Jpay kiosk and tablet).
As of 6 October 2022, every prisoner is allowed access to kiosk and
tablets. This was not done out of altruism. However, I believe JPay
threw a rod regarding the amount of money their being denied via the
thousands of prisoners being denied their service or should I say
bilking. I won’t even front with a tablet, I won’t need anyone to
transcribe my thoughts and I can get my thoughts out to be published
allowing me to raise funds for appealing my criminal case while
enlightening others in the bigger cage.”
It remains to be seen how the resolution of this conflict will affect
all of the complaint outlined above. But we can say that Under Lock
& Key continues to be denied to the majority of prisoners in
the Florida DOC, as do publications like our Revolutionary 12 Step
Program, which are tools intended to help people rehabilitate and
reintegrate into society and to serve their community upon doing so. As
the comrade above notes, there is clear bias, both politically and
nationally, as far as what communications are allowed in Florida and in
most of the prisons across this country.
by Melo x August 2022 permalink
This drawing is a response to one of the questions from our intro study
program on the materialist method of knowledge
[Responding to “What did you disagree with?” when studying “Where Do
Correct Ideas Come From?”]
I disagreed with the basis of idealism not being action. To think is
action. Thought can be provoked by stimuli collected by the body’s
sensors, which is more reactionary. Or you can create a thought or an
idea, but this is action. Mental action nonetheless but action
all-in-all. And it must be understood physical action comes from mental
action. As I write this I understand the materialist method is physical
action. Well I guess I don’t have a disagreement but rather a question,
is ideas placed on paper in book format considered materialism?
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: As comrade Melo X
explains, we can have thoughts that are reactions to physical stimuli,
or we can create thoughts. But this “creation” of thoughts is also a
response to the physical world. What we might call reason, abstracts
concepts based on our experience with real phenomena, or physical things
we can interact with.
“the faculty of understanding is not a ‘thing in and of itself,’
because it becomes real only in contact with some object.”(1)
Dietzgen explained how the idealists see the mind as separate from
the sense perceptions of the material world. So Melo X is correct to see
the unity between them. The comrade also distinguishes creating thoughts
from more passive perception. This realization demonstrates the role of
reason in developing scientific understanding from our perception of the
physical world around us.
We also agree that our thoughts impact our actions. Hence we stress
class consciousness as an educational process that is a product of our
interactions with the class system.
So, are ideas in a book part of the materialist method? Well, it
depends on what ideas. A book can promote contemplative reasoning.
Bourgeois books will promote bourgeois thinking that harbors much
idealistic reasoning in order to deny the contradictions inherent to the
capitalist system. All that said, 99% of our materialist understanding
of the world is based in history, and therefore must come from books (or
other historical record). If we discarded books in our scientific
pursuits we could not continue to build on the knowledge of the past,
but would be stuck relearning the same things with each generation.
It is a crass form of materialism that says everything must come from
persynal experience and direct interaction with the physical world.
Rather we must learn from the actions of the people who came before us,
and as we develop new theories they must be tested by us in practice
through action and not just tested in our contemplative, subjective
minds. Another way to look at this is that books are recorded practice
and direct experiences of other people. Frederick Douglas’ writings are
from eir practice with chattel slavery, and Lenin’s writings are from
eir practice with the first proletarian revolution. When we say that all
knowledge is 99% history, we’re not saying we should spend all our time
learning using books but to see it as a starting point so we can make
new practice in the future.
Notes: 1. Joseph Dietzgen, The Nature of Human Brain
Work: An Introduction to Dialectics, PM Press, 2010,
p.58.
As a first time writer for MIM(Prisons) I must confess that, it’s
absolutely a blessing to have found such a space/medium to expose what’s
currently taking place within the Georgia Department of Corrections
(G.D.C), hereinafter “Georgia industrial slave complex”. Because
honestly, with every issue of Under Lock & Key, I thirst to
develop a political cadre, in order to establish a vanguard party among
the (lumpen) prisoner class.
Here at Telfair State plantation, there’s no real sense of political
consciousness among the masses nor is there any form of unity among the
street tribes, whom all proclaim to have been birthed out of Black
struggle to combat against oppression from a political perspective to
protect their community. To which I ask, isn’t the slave plantation
environment currently their community? Then why is it that their claims,
tends to seem as though nothing more than “persuasive rhetoric” produced
from the tenets of a force with every form of materialistic/imperialist
reason to divide the common? and yet, it gets worse.
There’s a massive staff shortage at the root of many Georgia
industrial slave sanitation failures and the problems don’t stop there.
It’s beyond the crisis point and something needs to change. Because
there’s a real humanitarian crisis. In which homicide and suicide rates
has already reached “unprecedented levels.” At Least 25 slave prisoners
deaths on plantation compounds in 2020 were suspected homicides, 7 at
Macon State plantation, according to “G.D.C.” and 19 slave prisoners
supposedly killed themselves in 2020, twice the national average.
The “G.D.C.” annual report for fiscal year 2019 (there was a lack of
access for 2020 FY report) reveals constant churn. According to the OF,
78% of the department’s new hires are (overseers) “Corrections
Officers,” and 71% quit before the year ended. Gov. Brian Kemp, just
proposed a 9.1% pay increase for plantation(overseers) guards that would
raise their entry level salary from $27,936 to $30,730. The experienced
staff are leaving as fast as they can to get out of here. What we’re
left with is kids trying to supervise slave prisoners they’re afraid of
and that has a domino effect. Without adequate staffing, the maintenance
begins to suffer, food service suffers. Because they don’t feel safe,
it’s created a circular problem.
Access to healthcare is more limited than ever and mental health
counselors are afraid to come in the dorms. Under-staffing has led to
more slave prisoners being stationed in temporary holding cages, going
extended periods without food, water or even bathroom visits. Often
we’re left in those cages to urinate and defecate on ourselves. If the
situation persists, lives will continue to be at stake. It’s just a
matter of time before we see causalities among the staff and slave
prisoners.
Urban street tribes have filled the power vacuum. The G.D.C.
estimated it housed 15,000 tribe members; nearly a third of it’s total
population. In the five previous years, authorities said tribe members
were responsible for 1,700 assaults in Georgia industrial slave
plantations. The pandemic has only made the situation worse, as COVID-19
continues to spread throughout the slave plantations. Recently 24 slave
prisoners tested positive for the virus; 3,100 have been infected so
far, 88 have died. Another 1,482 staff members have test positive and
two died from the virus, according the the G.D.C Those figures are
likely 10 times below the actual number of infections, according to a
recent study by the Center of Disease Control & Prevention.
I believe (the G.D.C.) is tolerating levels of chaos we have not seen
in the last 20 years. The scale of the problem is so great that federal
interventions is necessary and warranted. (Side note, the Department of
Justice continues investigation into Georgia prisons.)
Please family, friends and those on the inside report on what is
happening inside the walls of Georgia Department of Corrections prisons.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in September a state-wide
civil investigation into conditions at facilities across the state. The
DOJ investigation is focused on determining whether state prisoners are
reasonably safe from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners. DOJ
is also investigating whether the state offers reasonable protections
for LGBTQIA prisoners from sexual abuse by corrections officers and
other prisoners. If you or someone you know has information that could
raise awareness to this cause, submit tips to:
DOJ email community.georgiaDOC@usdoj.gov.
Dept. of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20530
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade’s report echoes what is
being reported
from Alabama from prisoners organizing there. Georgia is one of the
five states with a higher incarceration rate than Alabama, and of course
both are in the Black Belt south. Prison systems across the country are
crumbling and failing. It is our purpose to support those who are trying
to organize for change amongst this chaos. These contradictions create
opportunity for change.
If you did not receive a copy of the JFI petition to the Department
of Justice that we mailed out with Under Lock & Key 78,
write us to get copies and use them to organize a collective voice in
your prison. It is only by independent, collective organizing that we
can stop these unnecessary deaths and abuses.
This year marks the 51-year anniversary for the fallen comrade, BGF
founder/leader, Black Panther General/Field Marshall and Dragon of Ho
Chi Minh. This year also marks the 52 year anniversary of his alter ego,
the man-child, snatched away too soon, Jonathon Jackson, whose brave
revolutionary effort at only the age of 17 to free his older brother
George Jackson from a legal lynching, can only be viewed with awe. Their
stories of determination inspire the question of why the revolution has
been snared, and to seek a newer and more improved method for the
revolution that we new soldiers, guerrillas, and political scientists
plan to usher into the near future.
This month of August (Black August) is dedicated to the fallen
soldiers who bravely gave their lives to improve the quality of living
of not only the Afrikan Amerikans who belong to the original man, but
also to educate ourselves about the correct ways of living that the
history of antiquity has provided us with. It is a time to internalize
those lessons in a way that would help us to bridge the racial gaps and
get us to do away with our class masters and black, brown, red (a
variation of brown), yellow and white could live in a world that is free
from the trifles that have destroyed humanity.
George Jackson was a very strong, intelligent, courageous, and
dedicated brother whom the history books should teach us more about. For
many, George’s career as a shining revolutionary leader ended about as
quickly as it began. However, those exist outside of the mainstream
corporativism politics know well that George lived and existed as a
legend long before the Soledad Brother case that would make him
famous.
George Jackson entered the California penitentiary system in 1960
with an indeterminate sentence of one year to life, for the conviction
of a service station robbery that resulted in the theft of $70.00.
Though the evidence was in his favor, his court appointed attorney
convinced Jackson that if he would only plead guilty to a lesser offense
that he would receive some light county time. However, through a change
of hands, his deal that was promised would result of his conviction and
an indeterminate sentence that then in California would prove often
times volatile because it was up to a parole board if you ever went
home. A system that was heavily racist and extremely dangerous, proved
to be fertile grounds of an indeterminate sentence of one to life,
becoming life or in George’s case the death penalty.
The author of 2 classic pieces of Black literature that could be used
as a treatise of sorts, George laid out the harsh realities of
California’s prison system. The atmosphere was so openly racist that
whites were even working hand in hand to kill Black and Mexican
prisoners, even though ironically enough, just like in Texas some
Mexicans would make alliances with racist organizations and join in
killing Blacks. Through these activities George felt the need to
organize what he called “the chief of staff” and that chief of staff
that organized to combat the killing of Black prisoners would later on
become what is now known as the Black Guerrilla Family, a revolutionary
group that George attempted to align to the revolutionary movements not
only in Amerika, but also in Cuba and other Third World nations. In a
nutshell George agreed with International Communist Solidarity.
An avid reader, George transformed himself from an adolescent,
rebellious street gangster, to a revolutionary leader and prison
activist whose knowledge about history, economics, and politics, would
make college professors marvel at his intellect. But this is also part
of the larger reason why he was never paroled. You see, the sentence
that George had, at the most allowed for a convict to do 2 years and
then be paroled, but it was this political insight at a time were Black
male expression was denied. Not only Black male expression, but at a
time when George found communism, Amerika was trying its best to crush
this red scare. So his knowledge of capitalist Amerika was that great
that prison officials went to the extremes of trying to kill him. Their
line to whites was “kill Jackson it will do you some good.” However as
gifted as he was mentally and intellectually, he was also gifted as a
self-trained guerrilla assassin. George practiced a very special
bastardized style of martial arts and kung-fu called iron palm and he
worked out 6 to 7 hours a day doing 1000 finger tips a day.
Typing laboriously on a prison typewriter, Jackson wrote position
papers that dealt with prison life, economics, and the corrosion of
Amerika’s corporate capitalist culture and circulated these papers
throughout prison walls. For his activities, he was first rewarded with
segregation, often times with a welded lock. Once that proved to not be
enough, he was set up to be killed. But since he was a fierce warrior,
oftentimes even fighting for other prisoners who were the victim of
racial assaults, he would fight single-handedly 5 or 6 prisoners and
come out on top. At this point the white prisoners and officers hated
but feared him.
George was loved and respected by the Black prisoner population and
became their teacher and leader. Even the most racist whites respected
George because to them he was a man who was totally straight. All while
others would murder mouth and sell wolf tickets, George was as good as
his word. If he made a statement of some kind, it would always be
followed by action. George formed a political education class and
through that he gave his comrades the revolutionary platform that would
transform their Black criminality into a Black revolutionary mentality.
He also taught martial arts at a time where martial arts was outlawed in
prison.
His commitment was so great that during a prison protest that led to
some white inmates trying to actually lynch a Black demonstrator under
the order of racist cops, when George saw all of these white guys about
to push this brother off of a 30 ft. tier, he began punching, kicking,
and knocking those guys off the tier. However, for this, he, not the
white inmates, was locked up. It was only later on that prison officials
would admit that he stood up for a brother about to be hung.
In 1969, the California parole board who had been stringing George
along for years, but who had no intentions of ever releasing him, told
him that he was going to be transferred from San Quentin to Soledad and
that if he maintained clean conduct for 6 months he would be granted
parole. Soledad was a racist penitentiary that stoked the flames between
prisoners, and that ignited racial animosity to build to murder. George,
as a “class based” revolutionary always strove to get the convict class
to see that they could easily overcome their oppressors if they would
only unite, because by playing at racism the law would essentially win
since it would only be 2 maniac groups at war.
On 13 January 1970 after months of lockdown due to racial killings, a
new rec yard was opened. A system where Blacks, whites, and Mexicans are
to remain segregated from each other, a so-called “mistake” took place
and 7 Blacks and 8 white were led to the rec yard where predictably a
fight broke out. The officer’s job is to give a warning shot. However,
officer O.G. Miller with a military background, southern upbringing, and
racist attitude shot and killed 3 Black prisoners in cold blood. One of
the dead was George’s close friend and mentor W.L. Nolen. Three days
after these killings the Monterey County Courthouse, over prison radios,
announced that these killings were justifiable homicide. In less that 30
minutes later anger would turn into redemption as 25-year-old officer
Mills was beaten to death and thrown over a 30 ft. tier with a note in
his pocket that said “one down 2 to go.”
In February, George Jackson, John Clutchette, and Fleeta Drumgo would
be formally charged for the officers death even though they had no
evidence outside of their prison files that labeled them as Black
revolutionaries. According to prison officials, George was blamed
because he was the only person who could have done it. Hardly enough in
the area of evidence, it finally gave the state the legal pretext to do
what they had been trying to do quasi-legally for years. If George was
convicted it meant death since he already had life.
When George received visits from his family they would bring his
younger brother Jonathan and the two of them would get off to one side
of the visiting room where George would do his job as an educator and at
the age of 16 Jonathon had a remarkable insight into guerrilla warfare,
communism, and uniterian conduct locally and globally. His love for his
brother made him grow-up. He saw that they never intended to let his
brother go. At a time when most teens are thinking about
self-gratification, Jonathon could only think of George. He said “people
tell me that I’m too involved with the movement and my brother’s case,
but I have one question to ask people who think like this, ‘What would
you do if it was your brother?’”.
George and Angela Davis became somewhat of a power couple and George
appointed Jonathan to be her bodyguard. After being fired from UCLA as a
professor, just because she identified with communism, George feared
that some right-wing nut might feel like a hero by killing her. It was
around this time that the state asserts that Angela Davis provided the
weapons that Jonathan Jackson would use on 7 August 1970 when he took a
bag full of guns to a courthouse in Marin County and passed the out to 3
prisoners on trial. Calm and cold he stated “alright gentlemen I’m
taking over now” and “you can take our pictures, we are the
revolutionaries.” At the young age of 17 Jonathan had sense enough that
the only way he could affirm justice was through a bold act that would
take his life.
A year and 2 weeks later on 21 August 1971 prison authorities would
concoct the most outrageous story ever invented to justify the
assassination of one of our most gifted leaders, George Jackson. The
state “asserts” that after a visit with his attorney Stephen Bingham
that George had a metallic item in his hair that proved to be a gun that
he used to gain control of the Adjustment Center after he said these
chilling words “The dragon has come.” The absurdity is that when they
reenacted this in a court, they affirmed that George’s cell was 50 yards
away from the visiting room at San Quentin, a highly sophisticated,
technological prison. And when they reenacted how it would’ve taken
place they said “the gun wobbled dangerously”, meaning that it couldn’t
have happened that way. At best if George did end up with a weapon he
must have wrestled it away from his assassins.
But the kicker is “they say” George had explosives that he intended
to blow a 20 ft wall away and escape. “They say” that George ran towards
a wall and was shot in his ankle that was immediately shattered, yet
somehow he managed to get up and run again and a second shot was fired
that entered his back and exited his head. However, what “they say”
again proved to be a lie as autopsy proved that the shots that were
fired couldn’t have come from a high position as they assert, but rather
from the ground.
Now why such an outrageous story for this situation? I mean to me,
even though I feel very sorry for Georgia Bea Jackson as she lost 2 sons
within a year, I still can’t help but admit that if he went out as the
state asserts, it even more adds to his legend. Killing 5 people in the
span of 30 seconds (which is impossible) before being killed is
remarkable. But upon investigation, if George would’ve went to trial and
beat his case, he very well may have been released from prison. So
instead of us believing in government created conspiracies, we need to
question the facts. In love and revolution, may George and Jonathon both
rest within the essence, while they continue to live through people like
me and countless others.
I’m attacking the “Heat Sensitivity Scoring (HSS).”
We feel that being classified as “Heat Sensitive”, which requires a
cool-bed housing assignment, is a medical treatment and a medical
diagnosis. A diagnosis that you should be able to choose if you want the
“treatment” or not. We have a right to refuse medical treatment but they
will not let us opt out of this “classification” and will not explain
how this “Heat Score” was calculated.
The best information I’ve gotten on the Cool-bed litigation came from
Nell Gaither at the Trans Pride Initiative PO Box 3982, Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 449-1439, tpride.org. She copied and pasted Document 59-2 from
Sain v. Collier 4:18-CV-4412 and I had her letter entered in my
case. It is a 4 page letter and you can buy it for $0.50 per page from
the Clerk in the Western District, Austin Division @ 501 W. 5th St.,
Suite 1100, Austin, TX 78701.
TDCJ makes First Nation practitioners take a religious knowledge test
before they will approve them for a Designated Native American Unit and
if you can’t pass the test you can’t meet with clergy or attend
ceremonies, etc.
I was shipped off of my Designated Unit and put in High Security in
Allred because I was “Heat Sensitive.” SO they denied me of my religion
due to my health conditions and wouldn’t tell me I had to re-take the
test to re-apply for a Designated Unit (which is unconstitutional).
Anyway, what they’re really doing is shipping [lawsuit/paperwork] filers
off to high security claiming they are “Heat Sensitive.”
If this happens to others, all they need to do is contact the
Chaplain and apply for a transfer to a Designated Unit again. They will
have to take the test again as is TDCJ Religious Policy AD-07.30 policy
number 09.02(rev3)p.1 &2 and policy 09.02(rev2) Attachment A.
We are looking to do away with this unconstitutional religious
discrimination and teach our own religion. TDCJ’s text is based on
Lakota religion and there are no Lakota tribes in Texas, so it is
difficult to get Native Chaplains willing to teach a religion that is
not their own.
People are fired up about ULK 78! I’m going to be ordering
all of my grievances to send to TX Prison Reform. Thank you Triumphant
of T.E.A.M. O.N.E.! for the good info. I’ve already ordered my
grievances, I have 56! You can purchase them from the law library for
$0.10 each.
Note to my Connally Unit comrades: As of 1 August 2022, TDCJ will no
longer make legal copies, which is fucked up! I’m having to send my
original documents through the mail to the court and hope they don’t
steal my mail. Warden Rayford has banned inmate-to-inmate legal visits
and there is no drinking water in the Law Library and no bathroom
breaks. If you need to go to the pisser, your session is over.
No legal copies and legal visits hinders our access to courts, but I
suggest sending an I-60 in and getting a denial on paper even if you
don’t need a jailhouse lawyer. Then, if you loose your case you can say
this was because you didn’t have your “helper.” Johnson v. Avery,
393 U.S. 483, 490(1969) says you have a right to get legal help
from other prisoners unless the prison “provides some reasonable
alternative to assist inmates in the preparation of petitions.” And if
they are still retaliating after that, make sure you got a lot of
witnesses. It is a federal crime for state actors (the prison officials)
to threaten or assault witnesses in federal litigation 18
U.S.C.§1512(a)(2).
Dillard v. Davis, et al. Civil Action
No. 7:19-cv-00081-M-BP
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E.-Legal Representative
113 Stockholm, #1A
Brooklyn, NY. 11221
#endrestrictivehousinginTDCJ
more about Plaintiff at
https://wireofhope.com/prison-penpal-daniel-dillard/
TDCJ Officials DENIED Summary Judgment in fight to END restrictive
housing in Texas
On 2 August 2022, Chief Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn rendered an Order
Accepting Findings, conclusions and recommendations of the United States
Magistrate Judge.
The Honorable Magistrate Judge Hal R. Ray Jr. submitted the findings,
conclusions and recommendations on 17 June 2022, effectively denying
TDCJ’s officials qualified immunity defense and finding that continuous
confinement in TDCJ’s version of solitary confinement is INDEFINITE
under the unconstitutional Restrictive Housing Plan. A date for trial
has not been set though it was also recommended by Magistrate Judge Ray
Jr.
The time is now for pre-trial preparations and the Plaintiff and
Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E. are requesting that individuals that are being held
in TDCJ’s Restrictive Housing please submit their testimony, artwork,
poems and writings to the contact info above. We want to hear your
stories about what you have suffered in TDCJ’s Restrictive Housing.
Anyone who wishes to participate in the trial must first submit their
testimony to Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E. first. Serious
inquiries ONLY! Secondly you must be willing to have your background
checked thoroughly. So once again, Serious Inquiries ONLY!
*** ATTENTION *** ATTENTION ***
Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E. is putting together a scrapbook about solitary.
Submissions would go to the above address also, along with permission to
publish your material. Submission should be turned in NO later than
November 30th 2022.
Texas Together Ending All Mass
Oppression aNd Exploitations
MIM(Prisons) adds: We have distributed copies of this
press release to a number of prisoners in Texas, but need help doing so.
If you know someone suffering in RHU, please share this information with
them ASAP.
The campaign against long-term solitary confinement is a campaign
against torture and a campaign against political repression. It is
perhaps the most important struggle in the U.$. prison movement. Texas
has an opportunity to do what California failed to do. In California, an
alliance
of lumpen leaders and reformist organizations settled the
Ashker suit against the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation.(1) Texas T.E.A.M. O.N.E. will not be
following suit, and will be taking this battle to trial with the goal of
ending, not reforming, long-term solitary confinement in Texas.
As the Texas prison movement continues to grow, we must build broader
awareness and support for this battle, especially among the most
affected masses who are willing to dig in and fight for this. The
largest prison strikes in history precluded the battle against the
Security Housing Units in California, and yet the battle was lost. We
must put politics in command and rally the prisoners and people of Texas
to put an end to torture.
Notes: 1. Wiawimawo, September 2015, Torture Continues: CDCR
Settlement Screws Prisoners, Under Lock & Key No. 46.
We have a lot of issues at this facility, especially with mail
delivery delays (policy states the facility has 48 hours from arrival to
deliver mail and 72 hours for packages; both can take over a week) and
with unnecessary censorship. The Colorado Department of Corrections’
administrative regulations are clearly laid out regarding mail, but this
facility often misinterprets or outright ignores those policies.
BCCF is a private-owned (CoreCivic) prison, and despite having a
Private Prison Monitoring Unit (PPMU) assigned to monitor the facilities
compliance, they more regularly choose to cover for the administration,
for whatever reason, instead of holding them accountable in any way. In
fact, the former head of PPMU at this facility recently “retired” from
DOC and was hired by CoreCivic to a lucrative, high-ranking position
(Chief of Unit Management) at this very facility. No potential for
conflict of interest there, right?
The grievance procedure is a complete joke around here. Each step of
a grievance can take up to 2 months to receive a response, although
denying that any issues exist is hardly any sort of helpful response. By
the time a DOC employee becomes involved, several months have passed and
either they are lied to by facility staff, or they lie to the prisoner.
Either way, nothing is done about any real problems.
In my 8+ years at this prison, I have experienced a variety of
changes, including now having the third warden in that time frame. In
the past year – about the time the current Chief of Security and Warden,
and shortly thereafter, the PPMU/Chief of Unit Mgmt., arrived – the
level of violence here has skyrocketed. During most of my time here this
place had remained largely peaceful, if mismanaged to some degree,
however, now that new “security protocols” have been implemented (such
as creating two “compounds” from the one, making one dangerously
understaffed compound the “High-security” compound), drugs have flooded
this facility, despite all incoming mail being photocopied. We can’t
even get photos from family anymore. The rest of Colorado DOC facilities
are going through “normalization.” This private prison is only
normalizing drugs, anger, and violence. With no programs and very
limited rec, things will only get worse here.
I constantly encourage everyone around me who will listen to file
grievances and write letters to public officials. Even if they do not
solve issues in and of themselves, they create and build a record of the
abuses at a particular prison, or in a state’s system. “Keep your
copies!” Tell family and friends about all of the problems, change
public opinion of “us” by being responsible, educated citizens who
expect accountability from our government just like everyone else. When
something is broken, government just pours more of its stolen money into
the problem, never fixing anything (but getting more powerful in the
process). We need to expose to the public what a waste the prison system
is – in financial and human capital – and discourage anyone from
supporting the expansion of such a broken system.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade’s
strategy. We should not have false illusions about reforming the system
through grievances or exposure, but we also must come together and
practice diligence and build our skills in fighting abuses. By doing so
we can build towards real solutions.